


Perhaps It's Perfect

by eafay70



Series: A Very Merry "Advent" Calendar [26]
Category: Football RPF
Genre: Arsenal FC, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 09:39:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9066223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eafay70/pseuds/eafay70
Summary: Granit doesn't want to ruin Olivier's picture-perfect family. Olivier convinces him it really isn't as perfect as it seems.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BoomXhakalaka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoomXhakalaka/gifts).



> Your username reminds me of an Arsenal pairing that could use more fics.
> 
> Primary inspiration comes from a [video](https://youtu.be/uOasB3AhpE0?t=8m13s) in which Olivier looks through various pictures. He says of a picture with his daughter, "By the way, can I get it?"

Granit considered himself a good guy. He wasn't necessarily an ideal boyfriend, considering he was obsessed with his phone and stubborn as a mule, but he had positive qualities, including but not limited to a great sense of humor in several languages and a gentlemanly manner perfect for fancy dates. But most importantly, Granit considered himself a good guy because he refused to be a home wrecker.

Why was Granit so insistent when it came to not being a home wrecker? Because he was currently in love with Olivier Giroud, husband since 2011 to the fabulous Jennifer, father to an adorable three-year-old girl named Jade, and father to an equally adorable nine-month-old boy named Evan. And Granit refused to act on his feelings for Olivier if it meant ruining a family as perfect as the Giroud family.

Unfortunately, Granit couldn't kick away his feelings for Olivier as easily as he could kick a ball into the goal. That was probably why every commercial starring a happy couple or a happy family tugged furiously at his heartstrings. And one chilly day not long before Christmas, one commercial did him in: The father couldn't make it home for Christmas, so he used some fancy video-chat app to help the children wrap his present for the mother, which was a picture frame holding their wedding photo on the left and their wedding invitation on the right. Granit presumed the commercial was meant to advertise the video-chat app, but his attention was caught by the picture frame instead. So he turned to Google and found a little boutique a few blocks away that made those frames. Granit found the pictures he wanted, placed an order, and received the finished product just in time for Christmas.

While Granit's family back in Switzerland considered the amount of football played in England between Christmas and New Year's absolutely ridiculous (it was a variant on the "England has terrible weather" jokes), Granit was grateful because it meant nobody on the team was traveling. So he knew that Olivier would be home when he stopped by, which didn't stop his hands from shaking as he rang the doorbell.

"Granit!" Olivier opened the door with a big smile, and Granit's heart melted. "Come in!"

"Thanks." Granit followed Olivier to the sitting room, where a tray of cookies was waiting on a table. "Are you doing something?"

"No. Jennifer is with the kids back in France." Olivier sat down on the couch and pointed to his left, where Granit took a seat. "There have been rumors, again. She confronted me, and I told her what was really happening. We decided it'd be best to give each other room."

"Oh." Granit gulped nervously. "I saw this on TV and thought you'd like it." He shoved the package into Olivier's hands, worrying that he'd made an even bigger mistake than he could have possibly imagined.

_"Merci, Granit."_ Olivier unwrapped the gift and smiled. On the left was a picture of the four Girouds outside the Emirates stadium. And on the right was an etching of Olivier's jersey with the word "Daddy," just like the ones Jade and Evan wore. "This is amazing."

"I'm glad you like it." Granit stood up to leave, but Olivier pulled him back down.

"Is something wrong?" Olivier looked worried. "Is it what Jennifer might say?"

Granit nodded. "I thought that acknowledging that you have a perfect family, just like in the picture, would stop me from wanting to destroy it. But my feelings are still here."

Olivier chuckled softly. "That's pretty much what Jennifer will say. She suspected we were being stupid, you and I, once I had explained what was really happening."

This was nowhere near what Granit had predicted hearing. _"Wie bitte?"_

Olivier chuckled again and kissed Granit quickly. "I like you, which is what I told Jennifer. Jennifer guessed that you liked me, too. She and I don't always get along, you know."

"Oh." Granit's brain was a mess. "What does that mean?"

"My family isn't perfect, Granit. We can be together, in a way." They kissed again, with the implicit promise to make sense of everything some other time.

**Author's Note:**

> If today is St. Stephen's Day for you, Good St. Stephen's Day!  
> If today is Boxing Day for you, Happy Boxing Day!
> 
> The commercial in question is something I made up, but it's based on gifts my sisters and I received for our B'not Mitzvah: a picture frame with our invitations on one side. The family friend who gave them to us joked that she purchased several things from the store that made them to make sure it didn't go out of business before all three of us had one!


End file.
